Page 35 of Snow Blind

"If it was, and she didn't make it happen, Daddy may pay her a visit," Azreal said. "If he shows up, he does not, I repeat, he does not need to see you or know you are there. Stay out of his line of sight because he may well be a part of the Chrysalis, and to find you with his daughter...I don't know. He's dangerous."

"Got it."

"No, Cranberry, he's really dangerous," Azrael explained. "He's so terrible that folks like the Delgados allow him to live because at least they know what he will do, versus a replacement. The man is protected, which gives him carte blanche to unalive anyone who is a threat to his way of making money. You are a threat to him. He will unalive you and send your body to your new husband in pieces each week just to drive your man insane."

"Dear God!"

"Be aware of what kind of people the Technicians monitor and remove. The veiled line between us and them is very thin," she cautioned. "We have to make sure we don't become the monsters we are hunting."

Helen listened, adding a lesson learned. "I was told by the Archangel that the demon which grows in us is the demon we feed. I have a home to come to and someone waiting at that home for me. I'm not going to be stupid."

"Good. I might be starting to like you. Also, you need a real wedding," Azreal said. "I want to be a bridesmaid."

The call ended, leaving Helen sitting in her car, wondering what the heck had just happened. Azreal had provided her with a great deal of information to sort through, but more importantly, she’d cautioned her that Passion Fruit may be in danger for failing to complete the assignment. This wasn't good.

"This isn't good at all," she said, making a mental note to look up Michael Kurtzwilde. However, as fate would intervene, she wouldn't need to look the man up. He was coming to pay a visit to his daughter and deal her a blow that Passion Fruit wasn't prepared to process.

****

HELEN HAD BARELY UNPACKEDand stowed her luggage when a red light in the corner of the living room began to flash. She ran into the space, wondering what that light meant to Passion Fruit. At the old place she’d shared with Cherry in Indianapolis, the flashing red light meant unwanted company getting too close to the house. Her eyes scanned the room. Bryan sat in the chair with an empty male urinal next to him. He was working a puzzle and enjoying a cup of tea. Fresh new bandages covered his face and hands, but he still looked like a mummy on welfare.

Bryan asked, "What does the light mean?"

"It means I have company arriving in six minutes," Passion Fruit said, going to the monitors. She spotted the car coming up the long drive towards the cabin. "Shit, it's my father."

Helen's eyes grew wide. "Bryan, up and move fast. That man does not need to know either of us is here. On your feet! Grab anything that says you were here and move with a purpose."

She helped him get to his feet and started down the hall. Helen grabbed the mug he was drinking from as well as the urinal, taking them both down the hall with her. In the bedroom, she pushed Bryan into a chair and held her finger to her lips.

"He's a bad man," she told Bryan. "He will make us both stop breathing and her too, if he knows we are here. Stay as quiet as you can."

Bryan didn't need to be told twice as the sound of a doorbell rang out. From where they sat in the bedroom, both he and Helen could hear the conversation clearly. Both wished they hadn't.

****

MICHAEL KURTZWILDEsucked all the air from a room. A man of imposing form, he stood at six feet three, weighed in at a solid two hundred and forty pounds, and was loads of redistributed muscle mass. The once blonde hair had grayed in the back and on the sides, but the blue eyes still were cold and icy.

"Daughter," he said, coming through the door.

"Father, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" Passion Fruit asked.

Kurtzwilde looked about the place. It hadn't changed. The little cabin was still a shithole where his daughter wasted her skills as a doctor patching up animals of the two and four-legged variety. He knew she'd become a Technician to spite him, but that too, he’d made work in his favor.

"You had an assignment, which you have yet to complete," Kurtzwilde said. "The order was to make it look like an accident."

"I wasn't aware you knew what I did on the side," Passion Fruit told him.

"I am aware every time you leave this house, throw a hump in a shitty hotel room with a no faced stranger, and enjoy a glass a wine at that hovel you call a bar in Chi-Town," he told her. "What I am not understanding is why your mark is not dead. As a matter of fact, there are no signs of him at all."

"Then perhaps I did complete the assignment."

"Without proof, there is no payment, Daughter. Where is the proof of Elliott Parker's death?"

"Honestly, I was there, in place, and setting the stage for an untimely accident," she said truthfully. "A body came over the side of the mountain face with a hole in it that dropped at my feet and tumbled down the crevice. I wasn't sure if the next bullet would be for me, so I got clear and reported in."

"Bullshit!" he snapped at her. "Parker's clothes, his motorcycle, his backpack, and tent were all still at the campsite, but not him. Verification is required not only for your payment but to continue to be of value to your little crew of Fruits."

"Father, I can go back to the site to see if I can locate the body that fell or try to find this Parker guy and close the contract," she said. "You're not going to touch the Fruit in the bowl, are you?"

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